Spring resistant type exercising device

ABSTRACT

The exercising device has an elongated shaft with a hand grip mounted on the upper end thereof. The lower end of the shaft is rotatably journaled within a bearing formed in a base. The base is mounted on a pair of legs which also function to support a pair of upright bars. Each bar has an aperture formed at its lower extremity for receiving one of the legs while the upper extremity is adapted to be connected to a spring. A cross bar is provided to extend through the shaft with each end of the cross bar being connected to one of the springs connected to an upright. During an exercise the shaft is twisted by hand with the spring assembly providing a torsional bias against such movement. The uprights supporting the springs are movably mounted on the legs to vary the distance between the uprights and the shaft. This movement varies the tension of the springs to adjust the torsional bias acting on the shaft.

United States Patent 1 Seeger SPRING RESISTANT TYPE EXERCISING DEVICE [76] Inventor: Robert W. Seeger, 10314 E. Line Oak, Arcadia, Calif. 91006 [22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 209,919

[52] US Cl. 272/83 A, 273/32 R, 272/67, 272/DIG. 4, 272/84, 73/136 B, 272/D1G. 5 [51] Int. Cl.. A63b 21/22, A63b 21/30, A63b 23/00 [58] Field of Search 73/380, 136 B, 379; 272/52, 83 R, 83 A, 67, 79 R, 68, 81; 40/145 A, 125 H; 267/171, 173; 74/36 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,563,542 2/1971 Wellman 272/83 R 3,616,557 11/1971 Vara 40/125 H 1,532,865 4/1925 Beck 40/145 A [451 July 24, 1973 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-William R. Browne Att0rrw v-Harold 1.. Jackson. Stanley R. Jones ct al.

[57] ABSTRACT The exercising device has an elongated shaft with a hand grip mounted on the upper end thereof. The lower end of the shaft is rotatably journaled within a bearing formed in a base. The base is mounted on a pair of legs which also function to support a pair of upright bars. Each bar has an aperture formed at its lower extremity for receiving one of the legs while the upper extremity is adapted to be connected to a spring. A cross bar is provided to extend through the shaft with each end of the cross bar being connected to one of the springs connected to an upright. During an exercise the shaft is twisted by hand with the spring assembly providing a torsional bias against such movement. The uprights supporting the springs are movably mounted on the legs to vary the distance between the uprights and the shaft. This movement varies the tension of the springs to adjust the torsional bias acting on the shaft.

11 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures SPRING RESISTANT TYPE EXERCISING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to exercising devices and more particularly to exercising devices for developing the hand, arm and shoulder muscles which control pronation.

2. Description of the Prior Art Exercising devices and routines have been designed for developing just about every muscle in a persons body. However, the muscles most neglected by these devices and exercising routines happen to be the ones that are used the most. These muscles are the hand, arm .and shoulder muscles which are used in pronation.

Various types of resilient hand grips are currently used for strengthening the gripping muscles of the hand, but these devices do little to develop wrist and forearm strength.

In fact, very few devices have been patented and/or developed which are utilized to build up the pronator muscle control. Although these muscles are used in countless ways, proper development of these muscles are especially important to golfers. The reason for this is that in a proper golf swing, great emphasis is put on 'the correct manner in which the wrists turn to control the action of the club head. If the pronator muscles are in poor tone, proper club head control cannot be obtained.

Of course, lifting weights can do very little in developing the pronator muscles. What is required is a type of exerciser that applies a torsional resistance to the wrist and forearm.

Three deviceshave been patented which attempt to accomplish this. These exercising devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,084,547; 3,132,861, and 3,588,102. The devices disclosed in the first two patents include a pair of tubular handles which are coaxially aligned and resiliently interconnected. To operate the exerciser, each handle is gripped by hand and then the handles are counter-rotated to create counteracting torsional forces on the two handles. The exercising device disclosed in U; S. Pat. No. 3,588,102 operates in substantially the same manner. The only different in structure is that the latter device utilizes a pair of universally mounted hand grips connected to the ends of the interconnected members.

Although the. exercising devices described above function somewhat to develop the pronator muscles, they still suffer from various shortcomings which restrict their widespread utilization.

A major shortcoming with the exercisers described above is that in using any of these devices, the users arms cannot be extended to straightened position. These devices must be operated by having the arms bent. The reason for this is because both hands must grasp the resiliently interconnected members. As a result, the torsion members cannot be placed outwardly with the axial rotation coaxial with the arm to permit the arm to be fully extended as it pronates. This, of course, is the type of motion that simulates the motion of a gold swing. It has been a common practice to simulate the actual movement one will be using in developing the muscles used in making that movement. With the exercising devices described above simulating a gold swing would be impossible.

. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention obviates the above-mentioned shortcomings by providing an exercising device that is capable of being used to develop the pronator muscles with an exercise routine that simulates the extended arm movement in a golf swing.

The exercising device or pronator comprises a shaft rotatably journaled within a base. Spring means are mounted on the base and connected to the shaft to provide a torsional bias on the shaft. The shaft is of a length approximately the length of a golf club to enable the users arm to be fully extended when grasping and twisting the shaft.

A primary advantage of the present invention is that, if desired, only one hand and arm need be used to exercise on the pronator.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the spring tensioning is easily and uniquely adjustable to vary the torsional bias of the apparatus.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the apparatus is portable and can function as a weighted bar for use in various types of exercises.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pronating exercising device-of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the exercising device showing the base and spring assembly; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the exercising device, taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2, showing the base and spring assembly in elevation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a pronating exercising device, generally indicated by arrow 10, comprising an elongated shaft 11 having a hand grip 13 mounted on the upper end thereof. The lower end of the shaft 11 is rotatably journaled with a base 15 to enable the shaft 11 to be substantially vertically supported. As shown in use by an operator (shown in broken lines), the shaft 11 extends to a height approximating the height of a golf club to enable the operator to have his arms fully extending when utilizing the apparatus.

A pair of legs 17 are threadedly connected to the base 15 to extend out of the base 15 substantially apart. This two legged support enables the shaft 11 to be pivoted slightly forward at the same angular position a golf club would have in a normal golf stance.

The shaft 11 further comprises a transverse bore 19 formed therein, adjacent the base 15, for receiving a cross bar 21. The extremities of the cross bar 21 are hooked for connection to the one end of a pair of elongated springs 23. The other end of each of the springs 23 is adapted to be connected to the upper end of an upright 25 which functions as a load transfer means.

The uprights 25 function to provide a support for the springs 23 and also to provide a means for varying the tension of the springs 23. This is accomplished by forming an aperture 27 at the lower end of each upright 25 which is adapted to receive a respective leg 17 to be slidably supported thereon.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lower extremity of the shaft 11 extends completely through a bore 29 formed in the base 15, and is secured at that end by a cotter pin 31 extending through the shaft 11. A metal washer 33 is inserted over the shaft 11 between the cotter pin 31 and the base 15 to protect the bottom surface of the base 15. A second metal washer 35 is mounted on the shaft 11 directly over the base 15 and is secured in that position by a pin 37 extending through the shaft 11.

The vertical uprights 25 are configured to be eccentrically loaded by the springs 23 to cause them to tilt towards the shaft 11. This tilting position causes the upper and lower edges of each upright 25 forming the aperture 27 to frictionally engage the surface of the respective leg 17 to be secured thereon.

To vary the tension of the springs 23, the uprights 25 must be moved along the legs 17 to either shorten or lengthen the operating lengths of the springs 23; for example, from the length shown in solid to the new position shown in broken lines (FIG. 2). This is accomplished by manually straightening the tilt of the uprights 25 and sliding them along the legs 17 until the desired position is reached. If the uprights 25 are being moved away from the shaft 11, this movement must be done against the force of the springs 23.

To operate the exercising apparatus 10, the upper end of the shaft 11 is grasped by the operator in the position shown in FIG. 1. It should be noted that this position simulated the stance a golfer uses in approaching the ball. It should also be noted that the shaft 11 can be grasped with one or two hands to perform the exercise. In this simulated golf stance position in which the operators arms are fully extended, the operator twists the shaft about 90, first in one direction and then in the other. The movement of 90 in one direction is shown in FIG. 3. It should be noted that the pin 37 also functions as a pointer and numbers can be etched on the upper surface of the base 15 to indicate when a quarter turn has been reached.

As shown in FIG. 3, this quarter turn movement causes the springs 23 to become elongated thereby creating a force on the movement arm formed by the cross bar 21. As a result, to twist the shaft 11 in either direction, the shaft 11 must be rotated against the torsional resistance created by the spring 23. By constantly repeating this cycle, the pronator muscles of the arm can become strengthened. As stated previously, this muscle toning is especially advantageous to golfers for developing proper muscle control in a golf swing.

It should be noted that various modifications can be made to the apparatus while still remaining within the purview of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A pronating exercising apparatus comprising:

a shaft;

a base;

journal means on the base for rotatably supporting one end of said shaft;

a cross bar connected to and extending across said shaft;

a means movably mounted on said base for transferring a torsional load to the base; and

a pair of spring biasing means connected to said load transfer member and said cross bar to provide a torsional bias on said shaft, said load transfer members being movably mounted on said base to vary the operative length of said springs and, the torsional bias on said shaft.

2. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 1 wherein said base comprises a pair of legs and said being slidably mounted on said legs to vary the operative length of said springs.

3. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 2 wherein each support member comprises an elongated upright bar having an aperture formed on one end for receiving a respective leg.

4. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 3 wherein each of said upright bars is connected to a respective spring at its other end, the lateral force created by the spring on the upright bar tending to tilt said bar to cause the edges of the bar forming the aperture to frictionally engage the corresponding leg for securing purposes.

5. A pronating exercising apparatus comprising:

members held by an operator for rotation during an exercise program, said means including a shaft,

a base;

journal means on the base for rotatably supporting one end of the shaft;

spring means fixedly attached at one end thereof to the shaft member for providing a torsional bias force against rotation of the shaft; and

means connected to the other end of the spring means and movably mounted on the base to vary the spring means torsional bias force against rotation of the shaft whereby the operator can adjust the force desired for exercising.

6. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 5 wherein the base includes at least one shaft and the support member is slidably mounted on the shaft to vary the torsional bias force of the spring means.

7. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 5 the last named means further includes a first and second support member connected to the spring means and movably mounted on the base.

8. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 further including a cross bar movably mounted on the shaft and connected to said one end of the spring means.

9. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 wherein the base includes a a pair of radially extending legs and each support member has an aperture at one of their respective ends for receiving a respective leg.

10. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 wherein the legs function as shaft members for slidably mounting the support members.

11. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim, 10

wherein the legs are positioned apart. 

1. A pronating exercising apparatus comprising: a shaft; a base; journal means on the base for rotatably supporting one end of said shaft; a cross bar connected to and extending across said shaft; a means movably mounted on said base for transferring a torsional load to the base; and a pair of spring biasing means connected to said load transfer member and said cross bar to provide a torsional bias on said shaft, said load transfer members being movably mounted on said base to vary the operative length of said springs and, the torsional bias on said shaft.
 2. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 1 wherein said base comprises a pair of legs and said being slidably mounted on said legs to vary the operative length of said springs.
 3. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 2 wherein each support member comprises an elongated upright bar having an aperture formed on one end for receiving a respective leg.
 4. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 3 wherein each of said upright Bars is connected to a respective spring at its other end, the lateral force created by the spring on the upright bar tending to tilt said bar to cause the edges of the bar forming the aperture to frictionally engage the corresponding leg for securing purposes.
 5. A pronating exercising apparatus comprising: members held by an operator for rotation during an exercise program, said means including a shaft, a base; journal means on the base for rotatably supporting one end of the shaft; spring means fixedly attached at one end thereof to the shaft member for providing a torsional bias force against rotation of the shaft; and means connected to the other end of the spring means and movably mounted on the base to vary the spring means torsional bias force against rotation of the shaft whereby the operator can adjust the force desired for exercising.
 6. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 5 wherein the base includes at least one shaft and the support member is slidably mounted on the shaft to vary the torsional bias force of the spring means.
 7. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 5 the last named means further includes a first and second support member connected to the spring means and movably mounted on the base.
 8. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 further including a cross bar movably mounted on the shaft and connected to said one end of the spring means.
 9. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 wherein the base includes a a pair of radially extending legs and each support member has an aperture at one of their respective ends for receiving a respective leg.
 10. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 7 wherein the legs function as shaft members for slidably mounting the support members.
 11. The pronating exercising apparatus of claim 10 wherein the legs are positioned 180* apart. 